Careful When Buying Property In Crete (greece)

For those who want to buy some property in Crete (or Greece), read this first:

Corruption is thriving in public servicesAnnual report identifies main problems

MARGARITA KIAOU/ANA in the ekathimerini, today

The man charged with keeping an eye on public services for cases of graft has painted another bleak picture of the state sector in his annual report which was delivered yesterday and recommends immediate steps to prevent bureaucrats being tempted by corruption.

“The fight against corruption is long, hard and has many obstacles such as the bureaucratic attitude of public servants, various petty interests and the lack of know-how in thwarting techniques used to cover up corrupt practices,” said the country’s general inspector of public administration, Leandros Rakintzis.

As in previous reports, Rakintzis identified town-planning offices and state hospitals, followed by municipalities, as the areas of the public sector where corruption is most rife.

Late last year, graft watchdog Transparency International ranked Greece as the most corrupt country in the eurozone while earlier this year it found that the average Greek family pays 1,450 euros per year in bribes to public officials.

Rakintzis said that the main reason why corruption is not being curtailed is that offenders go unpunished. He drew attention to the fact that internal evaluation of public servants almost always led to them being given full marks.

“It is not possible for all 800,000 civil servants to be excellent,” he said. “Even I did not get marks like that.”

Rakintzis said that in checking 7,608 source of wealth declarations (pothen esches) of high-level public servants, 30 were found to have suspiciously high earnings. He also gave the example of a doctor at the KAT emergency hospital in northern Athens who made some 2 million euros during a six-year period by effectively operating a private clinic within the state facilities.

Rakintzis also listed a “long list of offenses” at town-planning offices, an area where “destruction [of the environment] cannot be reversed[/size].” He highlighted the fact that many of the 176 offices around the country are understaffed and that illegal buildings are rarely demolished. [size="3"]He said that there are 2 million illegal buildings in Greece, 300,000 of which are in Attica.

He recommended 15 ways of tackling corruption, which included employing public servants only in the areas where they already live, changing the system for promotions and drawing up a new wage structure.

EUROKINISSIIt is estimated that one in four homes in Greece has been built without a proper permit. A new opinion poll has found that seven in 10 Greeks are against legalizing these homes in any way. The survey was conducted on behalf of the Technical Chamber of Greece.

Seven out of 10 citizens are against legitimizing illegally built properties, according to a survey made public yesterday by the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), the professional body that advises the government on engineering and technical matters.

The survey, carried out in July by Public Issue on behalf of TEE on a sample of 2,400 engineers and 615 other citizens, indicated that an overwhelming majority of respondents (83 percent) believe that illegal construction should be punishable by law without exception.

On the other hand, a similarly large proportion of respondents (86 percent) said they believe that town-planning regulations in Greece are so complex that most buildings end up having at least one modification that is illegal.

Respondents were divided about a recent law regarding “imyipaithrioi,” or semi-open spaces, that allows homeowners to “put in order” parts of their properties that have been illegally altered with 46 percent opposing it and 44 percent backing it. Still 75 percent agreed that the main purpose of the law is to raise revenues for state coffers.